The One With The Embryos
"The One With The Embryos" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Friends, which aired on January 15, 1998. Plot Chandler and Joey's "chick" starts crowing, which the girls next door are not amused with at all. But their anger vanishes into excitement for Phoebe, who goes to the fertility clinic - having accepted Frank Jr. and Alice's request, she is about to become their surrogate mother. However, she freaks out when she finds out it's five embryos that are being transferred and not just one, although not as freaked out as when she learns that even with five embryos, there's still only a 25% chance that she will successfully become pregnant. As the IVF is extremely expensive, Phoebe feels much pressure. At Monica's, Joey bets Monica he and Chandler know more about them than she and Rachel know about the guys. Quick to scoff in disbelief, Monica is also quick to lose when the guys manage to guess all of Rachel's items in her shopping bag. This quickly turns into a full-fledged trivia quiz about who knows more about whom, Ross being the judge. Stakes fly high, but the quiz ends in a tie, and money is not enough for the challenge to be settled, so the girls ask the guys to get rid of their animals should the former win. Chandler and Joey only accept on one condition- if the girls lose, the guys take their apartment. Super-competitive Monica is quick to shake hands on the deal, but Rachel has doubts about this risky bet. However, there isn't much time to mull the decisions as the nerve-wrecking "lightning round" is about to start. Chandler and Joey get four questions right, but the girls only manage three. As promised, Chandler and Joey swap apartments and start moving their furniture in. Rachel shouts at Joey and Chandler that it was not her fault, but Chandler and Joey still kept the apartment. Phoebe, still freaked out about the low chances of pregnancy, joins the group, and when the pregnancy test results negative, she sits upside-down on the chair to "let gravity do its job". Frank Jr and Alice come over with another pregnancy test for her, which she takes. Rachel and Monica are still mad at losing the apartment to Joey and Chandler, and a big fight sparks off, when Phoebe comes out of the bathroom with a huge smile on her face - the pregnancy test is positive, and she'll be having her brother's baby. In the closing credits, Rachel and Monica move into the guys' apartment. Rachel opens an drawer and sees something and the girls scream. Rachel kicks the drawer shut and they complain to each other how they hate the apartment. Meanwhile, Chandler is sitting in his new apartment when he hears a shout from Joey. Joey tells Chandler that the wardrobe is huge, and that they are going to enjoy living there. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courtney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Giovanni Ribisi - Frank Buffay Jr. Debra Jo Rupp - Alice Knight Buffay Cindy Katz - Dr. Zane Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Jill Condon & Amy Toomin Reception In a 2001 review, Entertainment Weekly rates the episode A+, stating that "Thanks to the trivia contest alone, Embryos is quite possibly Friends' finest moment". It singles out Rachel's line "He's a transpon-transpondster!" (in response to the question "What is Chandler Bing's job?") as the best of the episode. The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends call it a "sure-fire contender for the best episode of all time ... not one to be missed under any circumstances". The episode is the favorite of Cox and LeBlanc. Cox likes the episode because she enjoys playing Monica at her most competitive, while LeBlanc spoke fondly of the pace of the episode and the information about the characters that came out. He identified scenes that featured just the six core cast as the best, "because you don't have to introduce a character -- you don't have to lay any pipeline -- you just get right to the funny". Trivia *The doctor said that when five embryos are transferred, the chance is 25% that she will get pregnant. As it turns out in later episodes she has triplets, which has a chance of approximately 1 in 320.000: less than 0.0004%. *As of this episode, now all of the Friends, except for Phoebe, have done the Ross' alternative to giving the finger. Goofs *It is assumed that Phoebe receives her positive pregnancy test just few days after her IVF procedure, because Monica and Rachel are still packing- in fact, Phoebe is still wearing the same clothes whilst the others have all changed. A woman would not know if her IVF worked until ''at least '' 9–10 days past the embryo transfer, usually 14. - Phoebe did say though that her body had always been faster than western medicine. *In the scene where Phoebe's waiting to be implanted with the embryos, an ultrasound machine is in the background with a visible ultrasound picture of what appears to be a womb, even though Phoebe isn't hooked up to it. *When Monica and Rachel find something alive in the drawer of their new apartment and start screaming in the kitchen, the door behind them is closed. The following shot showing them from behind is clearly taken from the hall, as there is not enough space behind them for the camera. You can even see the open apartment door on the right side of the picture. *When Rachel crosses the boys' apartment to see what is in the drawer, if you look up to the right, you can see a glimpse of a boom mic. *During the contest, the "extended part" of the living room table, that makes it square is pointing to the couch, but, right after the coin toss, there is a shot where it is shown pointing to the window. *Between the announcement of the "Lightning Round" and the actual start of it, the score tally under "Men" on the Whiteboard changes from 9 to 8. *During the "Lightning Round," Joey and Chandler skip a question. Therefore, Rachel and Monica should have been able to skip questions, too, which would mean that they should have been able to skip the question about Chandler's job, rather than losing because of it. *When Monica defends the bet to Rachel, she says "If we'd lost, we would've made them get rid of the birds," rather than "If they'd lost..." *When Rachel and Monica live in Chandler and Joey's apartment, there is a microphone up the top of the screen. Photos 4x12.jpg 412win.jpeg 412.jpeg See also *The Contest for all the answers from the contest Episode Navigation Category:Friends Episodes Category:Friends Category:Season 4